Everyone loves a comeback story, especially in sports, and perhaps nobody has a better one than Bud Cauley.
The PGA golfer entered Sunday only a few strokes back for the lead at the 2025 Players Championship just seven years after being involved in a serious car crash in 2018 that threatened to end his golf career.
Cauley only qualified for the Players Championship because he was an alternate and Lee Hodges withdrew Monday. Now, the 35-year-old Cauley has a chance to win his second tournament ever on his birthday, nearly 11 years since his last pro victory.
Here’s what to know about Cauley’s accident and comeback.
Bud Cauley car accident
Surgeon David Crawford pulled out of a driveway, with James Wisniewski, a former NHL defensemen in the passenger seat, and Cauley and a young pharmacist in the back.
It was June 1, 2018, and the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, had two rounds in the books. Cauley had missed the cut, so the crew had been drinking and was searching for a party. Crawford blasted the gas and reached 25 miles per hour on a residential seat, immediately losing control and hitting a culvert on the right side of the street next to the driveway belonging to Columbus Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky. The car left the ground, slamming into a large tree and two other smaller trees, flipping in the air before landing in a front yard beside Dubinsky’s house.
The group had only traveled 800 feet on this journey from Wisniewski’s house. The police found Wisniewski face down, saying he was afraid to move because he was scared of further injury. Cauley was on the other side of the car, struggling to breathe and unable to move. Tommy Nichols, the fourth passenger, blacked out and was extricated from the car by paramedics. Crawford refused treatment at the scene, but, according to multiple police reports, officers immediately suspected he was intoxicated. After tests, it was determined Crawford’s blood-alcohol level was 0.155, nearly twice the legal limit in Ohio.
Nichols suffered the worst injuries, breaking 23 bones. Cauley suffered several broken ribs, a punctured and collapsed lung, and a broken bone in his lower leg.
“I felt lucky to only have the injuries I had,” Cauley said. “It was the ribs that scared me the most golf-wise. I broke six of them, and they had to plate four of them, so that took a while to heal. You do a lot of twisting in golf, so that was a concern. The lung is what kept me in the hospital, waiting for it to reinflate.”
Bud Cauley car accident comeback
Cauley returned to play only four months after the accident, but he still felt a stabbing pain in his ribs with even the slightest movements. He said he was anxious but that it was “nice to be back” on the course playing and practicing. He posted on Instagram about the incident, thanking fans for their support. He said, “Friday was the scariest night of my life, but I’m so thankful to be alive and only have the injuries I have. I have no timetable to return to the PGA Tour but I had a successful surgery yesterday, and every day is a step closer to competing again.”
The golfer’s rush back to the course came with complications. While he returned to the course soon after, he missed years of pro golf before returning in 2024.
The pain in his right side forced him to step away from the tour in late 2020 after several unsuccessful surgeries. He also had a seroma, a buildup of fluids, and an inflammation on his colon. “Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong,” he said in early 2024.
Now, Cauley is a strong day of golf away from completing the ultimate comeback.
Bud Cauley career wins
Cauley has only one professional win: the 2014 Hotel Fitness Championship, where he scored 20 strokes under par. Cauley has not yet competed in the Masters. Here is a table of how he has finished in major championships.
| Tournament | Best finish | Year of best finish |
| Masters | N/A | N/A |
| U.S. Open | T63 | 2011 |
| The British Championship | T32 | 2013 |
| PGA Championship | T33 | 2017 |
Bud Cauley career earnings
According to Spotrac, Cauley has earned $10,048,560 in his career. Almost all of it is from PGA earnings, with just a fraction coming from the majors.
Cauley has earned $9,898,689 from the PGA and only $149,871 from majors.
He earned $18,260 for the US Open in 2011, $39,251 for The British Open in 2013, $47,000 from the Masters in 2017, and $45,000 from the Masters in 2020.
Where did Bud Cauley go to college?
Cauley played golf at the University of Alabama, where he became one of the best in the program’s history. He attended from 2008-11.
